for the S15, i change ride height: all the way down front and rear spring rate: 10.5 front 7.7 rear stabilizers: 40 front 27 rear brakes: abs off clutch: extra heavy flywheel: extra light tires front: soft rear: hard
those setting have gotten me a best lap in the low 57's and i can consistently run in the 58-59's (except for first lap, which is consistently in the 1:02-1:03's)
drifting is pretty lifelike, just do it how you would in real life.
i have a crack for the full version if anyone is interested

it's ~8.7 megs and has 4 tracks, ps13, rps13, s14, s15, r32, r33, r34, z32 tt, and i've won a mid4 type II and the loctite zexel R34. some times an R390 and the penzoil R34 show up in the races, so i think you might be able to win those too. The cars that you don't have to win are tunable in 4-5 levels and come in all the factory colors. i bought a steering wheel with pedals just for this game. i love it!